Illinois pioneer days

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ILLINOIS
PIONEER
DAYS

By
ELBERT WALLER, A.M.

Published by

E. B. LEWIS,

Litchfield, Illinois.

1918.

1818 1918

ILLINOIS
PIONEER
DAYS

By
ELBERT WALLER, A.M.

Published by

E. B. LEWIS,

Litchfield, Illinois.

1918.

Copyright 1918 by Elbert Waller.

&&&fr&^^

TO THE SACRED MEMORY OF
THE BRAVE PIONEERS WHO
MADE THIS GREAT STATE
POSSIBLE, THIS LITTLE BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDI-
CATED.

£#<B*#***B><H>*>*KK23^^

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CONTENTS.

Page

1. Where the West Begins 6

2. Pioneer Home Life 7

3. A Pioneer Church 17

4. A Pioneer School 23

J 5. The Pioneer Mother 28

6. Going to Mill 31

7. A Ranger's Adventure 35

el 8. "Lasses" . 41

9. Buck-Skin Breeches ... 43
7^

_ 10. Pioneer Boatmen 45

11. Camp Meetings 50

H 12. Witchcraft 52

\

2f 13. Kaskaskia Cursed 54

cj

5 14. Freak Lawsuits of Pioneer Days 58

I 15. Monex of the Good Old Days 62

Settling Their Differences ... 64

A Trapper's Predicament 66

18. Pioneer Hash 67

19. Song of the Pioneers 70

20. A Pioneer Vocabulary 72

INTRODUCTION.

This is Illinois' Centennial Year, a time most
fitting to look back down the years and think of
the labors and sacrifices of those who came into a
land of savages and transformed it into a land of
the highest type of civilization. Much of the won-
derful history of the brave pioneers of these mighty
days is forever lost. With the idea of helping to
preserve that yet known and transmit it to the
rising generation, we are presenting this little
volume. We offer no excuse and no other explana-
tion for its publication. If those who read this
book are led to a greater realization of the won-
derful work of the pioneer men and women, it will
have served its purpose.

Respectfully submitted,

THE AUTHOR.

A PRAIRIE SCHOONER.

WHERE THE WEST BEGINS.

Out where the hand clasps a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,

That's where the West begins.
Out where the sun is a little brighter,
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter,
Where the bonds of home are a wee bit tighter,

That's where the West begins.

Out where the skies are a trifle bluer,
Out where friendship's a little truer,

That's where the West begins.
Out where a fresher breeze is blowing,
Where there's laughter in every streamlet flowing,
Where there's more of reaping and less of sowing.

That's where the West begins.

Out where the world is in the making,
Where fewer hearts in despair are aching,

That's where the West begins.
Where there's more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there's more of giving and less of buying,
And a man makes friends without half trying,

That's where the West begins.

(From "America," a pioneer pageant play.)

By R. H. Ward.

PIONEER DAYS

PIONEER HOME LIFE.

When the pioneers came in search of new homes
several families traveled together and they usually
selected some well-wooded spot near some stream.
When they were once located, no time was lost but
all hands got busy. Often, by the first night, they
had an improvised building in which the women
and children were sheltered and in a few days they
had houses for all and a nice little clearing
around each.

The houses were usually about sixteen by twenty
feet or hardly so large. The walls were of. logs
that ranged from eight to twelve inches in diam-
eter. They were built in the form of a pen with
notches in each log at the corners to make them
lie solid and closer. Then pieces were sawed out of
one side for the door. The frame of the roof was
formed by shortening the logs at each end, thus
necessitating bringing the logs of the sides closer
together until the last one would form the comb of
the roof. It was covered with clapboards, which
were usually about four feet long, made from large
trees and split with an instrument they call a frow
(fro). The roof was sometimes nailed on, and at
other times it was fastened on with poles laid
crosswise of the boards. The floor, if they had any,
was made of puncheons, which were timbers a foot

8 PIONEER DAYS

or more in diameter, cut into lengths of eight or
ten feet, split open, and the flat side smoothed. They
were sometimes laid flat on the ground and at other
times they were notched at the ends and laid on
cross logs called sleepers. The door was quite gen-
erally made of planks split out like the clapboards
of the roof, which were then pegged to two cross-
pieces, one end of each forming a hinge. The latch
was on the inside and would drop into a notch in a
peg and securely hold the door, but could be lifted
from the outside by means of a string extending
out thru a hole. If the "latch-string" was hang-
ing out, people were welcome to lift the latch and
come in. In one end there was a place about five
feet square cut in the walls for a "fire-place,"
which consisted of three sides of a pen about three
by five feet built in this opening to the top of it,
attached to the sides by "notching in", then lined
with stone and well plastered with mud. The fire-,
place terminated in a chimney which was built of
sticks, then plastered with mud. This was the
"stick-and-clay chimney." They had no glass for
windows, so they just sawed out a piece of log and
put a piece of greased paper in the opening.

The furniture was all home-made. The bed was
formed as follows: They first took a pole long
enough to extend from the floor to the roof,
trimmed the limbs off, cutting each about six inches
from the pole, so as to leave several hooks which
might serve as a sort of clothes rack. This pole

PIONEER DAYS 9

was then set about four feet from one side at a
back corner and six feet from the end. A pole was
laid from a crack in the end to the first fork in this
upright pole, about two feet high, and from that
to the side wall, clapboards or something of the sort
were laid across and the bedstead was made. On
this they usually put a bed made of straw or corn
husks, or even grass or leaves. In better days this
was supplied with feathers. The table was a crude
affair. They had no chairs but they made stools
by boring three holes in a block of wood and put-
ting pegs in for the legs. Sometimes they fixed up
something like a puncheon with four legs as a
bench for the children. They had no cook stove,
but usually a large skillet with an iron lid was a
substantial part of their equipment, tho they did
not always have that. To do their baking, they
made a heavy bed of coals on the hearth, set the
skillet on them, put their food in, put the lid on,
and then covered that with coals. Their light w.as
usually a tallow candle, but sometimes they were
not so fortunate as to have the tallow and they had
to have a grease lamp. The dishes also were nearly
always home-made wooden bowls and noggins. The
more fortunate ones only had a few pewter dishes.
Many had no knives or forks. If the former were
lacking, the hunting knife was called into service,
and if the latter a sharp stick answered the pur-
pose. Clocks were very scarce. The old rooster
would crow just as day began to dawn, so they

10 PIONEER DAYS

needed no alarm. They all learned to tell time
pretty accurately by the sun, so what need had
they for a clock? They had no matches. Some-
times they would start fire by striking a flint so
as to throw the sparks on a piece of toe, but some-
times the toe was scarce and they would go a mile
or more to a neighbor's to borrow fire. Many of
them kept fire thru the winter and summer by
keeping a log in the clearing burning.

The food was plain but very wholesome. The
corn-pone and the johnny-cake were served for
dinner. As hard as they worked they needed meat
and very rarely were they without it. Sometimes
it was venison. At other times it was turkey (wild)
squirrel, rabbit, ''possum" or "pattridge" (par-
tridge or quail). Those who had cows furnished
good sweet milk and buttermilk to everybody in
the neighborhood. Mush and milk was the com-
mon supper dish, and if they got tired of that they
could vary it with "hog and hominy". They drank
much milk and during the spring months they
drank sassafras tea. They raised beans and pump-
kins in the corn. They made sugar and molasses
from the sap of maple trees, and they often cut a
bee-tree, getting sometimes several gallons of
honey.

The majority of the pioneers were poor, but hon-
est and respectable, hence poverty carried with it
no sense of degradation or humiliation like that
felt by the poor of our 'age. They lived in just

PIONEER DAYS 11

humble cabins, but they were their own, built by
their own hands. They had few of the conveniences
of modern life and they were destitute of many of
the things we now consider absolutely necessary,
but they were industrious, patient and cheerful and
hopefully looked forward to better days. As noted
above, they had plenty of food and it was whole-
some. They had a good appetite and a clear con-
science, and as they sat down to the rude table to
eat from wooden or pewter dishes, they enjoyed it.
The bread they ate was from corn they had both
grown and ground, or it was made of wheat they
had grown and by a very laborious process flailed
out and ground ready for bread. Some of them
had graters on which they grated their corn and
wheat, but others had various forms of hand-mills.
They walked the green carpet of the forests and
fields around them, not with the mien of a vagrant,
but with the independent air and elastic step of a
self-respecting freeman.

In nothing have there been greater changes than
in their dress. The women usually wore a home-
made dress of what they called linsey-woolsey, but
occasionally the more fortunate ones could get
calico from "back east" and wear that on Sundays
or on dress occasions. They wore hoops, which
made the dress spread out at the bottom. Some-
times they had sleeves made very large and stuffed
with feathers so that if the arms were extended at
right angles to the body, the sleeves were about as

12 PIONEER DAYS

high as the head. When the boys used to hug the
girls (and they say they did), they called it
"squeezing the pillows." On their heads they
wore sunbonnets in the summer and shawls in win-
ter. If they didn't go barefooted they wore moc-
casins, which were made of a piece of deer-skin,
which were laced along the back of the heel and the
"calf" of the leg and also over the toes and instep
up along the shin. The more artistic ones ran about
a foot high and the tops were cut into strings,
which were painted in various colors and allowed
to dangle about the ankles. The girls often car-
ried their moccasins to church, putting them on at
the door. The men wore hunting shirts, breeches,
moccasins and a cap. The hunting shirt was a
loose sort of a blouse. It opened in front and was
large enough to serve as a sort of pouch in which
to carry lunch and other things necessary for the
trip. It was usually belted down and in this belt
he always carried a hunting-knife and sometimes
a tomahawk. On dress occasions he wore a short
cape over this coat, which terminated about his
shoulders in a fringe of bright colors. His cap was
made of coon-skin made so that the tail served as an
ornament dangling from the top or down behind.
His "breeches" were of buck-skin. In winter he
wore the hairy side in and in summer he reversed
it. On at least one occasion the "buck-skin breech-
es" served another purpose. Reverend James
Lemen of Monroe County and his son were out

PIONEER DAYS 13

plowing and left their harness in the field at noon.
The boy, hoping to get a vacation, hid one of the
collars. The father was resourceful enough and at
once took off his breeches, stuffed them with grass
and this served as a collar for the afternoon.

They had plenty of work to do and if they got
tired they worked at something else until they
rested. The women had work around the house
daubing the building, getting wood, grinding corn,
cultivating the truck-patch, dressing skins and
making it into clothing, or carding, weaving, and
spinning cotton or wool and making that into
clothing, knitting socks and stockings, milking the
cow and teaching the children to read. When she
got this done she went and piled brush or some-
thing of the kind until she rested, if she "was tired.
The men cleared the ground ready for crops, some-
times at the rate of ten or fifteen acres per year,
by cutting down all the smaller trees and "dead-
ening" the larger ones. They made rails and built
a fence around the fields, then plowed the ground
with a home-made plow and cultivated the crops.
Besides all this, they must "all-hands" protect the
chickens, geese, ducks, sheep and hogs against the
opossums, raccoons, panthers, wild-cats, and
wolves, and it often happened that they had to pro-
tect themselves against the Indians.

They were good at combining business with
pleasure. In the spring they had log-rollings,
which everybody — men, women and children — at-

14 PIONEER DAYS

tended. This was an occasion for everybody (•>
help and it was a source of great pride to a imm
if he could pull all the others down at the end of a
"hand-spike". The women took their spinning
wheels along, and it was a great day for them as
well. They had many amusements which were an
essential part of their education. The boy soo1-
passed the bow and arrow stage, and before bo
reached his teens he could handle the rifle well.
They often had "shooting-matches," and they de-
veloped great skill in marksmanship. They learned
the tricks of the animals and could imitate them
all, from the "gobble" of a turkey to the howl of a
wolf. They learned how to decoy the panther from
his hiding place and how to call a deer by day or to
"shine" him by night.

Boys went courting in those days. Among them
there was no aristocracy, so there was but little
looking for wealth or influence. They generally
married young and started out in life for them-
selves. In those days you could tell when young
people were going to get married by the way a
young man tried to prepare a few home-made tools
of his own and also by the fact that the girl was
taking an additional interest in drying fruits, mak-
ing quilts, etc. On the wedding day all the neigh-
borhood was there. The ceremony was performed
at noon and then came the big dinner. In some
neighborhoods this was followed by dancing the
"fox-trot" and the "country (contra) dance" un-

PIONEER DAYS 15

til daylight the next morning. The old fiddler was
in the height of his glory. In other localities where
they did not believe in dancing, they spent the
afternoon in the various sports common to pioneer
life, and departed to their homes before night only
to assemble at the home of the father of the groom
for an "infair" dinner the next day. Within the
next week a place for the house was selected and
the neighbors built a house for the new couple, and
after a "house-wTarming" which consisted of an
all-night party or dance, the young couple moved
in and were "at home."

If any of them became sick, the good old mothers
were the doctors. If they could not be cured, it
was often ascribed to the ill-will of a witch. If
they died, the preacher was there to say the last
sad words at the grave. The neighbors were the
undertakers.

"Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect.

Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked.

Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their names, the years spelt by the unlettered muse.

The place of fame and elegy supply.
And many a holy text around she strews.

That teach the rustic moralist to die."

As the years rolled on, fields were cleared up, the
whip-saw and the saw-mill Avere introduced, better
homes were built, churches were organized and
schools were established. Various enterprises were

16 PIONEER DAYS

started up and people became specialists in differ-
ent lines. The Indian and many of the wild ani-
mals disappeared. The pioneer doctor succeeded
the old "witch-master" and the people generally
led an easier life. In our imagination we can look
back over half a century and, on a winter evening,
see the old pioneer grandmother sitting by the huge
fire-place, knitting away, while the children are
gathered around a table and by the light of a tal-
low candle are studying their lessons, and the pio-
neer grandfather sits in meditative mood. Finally,
when lessons are gotten the children call on Grand-
father to tell them a story and out of the depth of
his heart he tells them a story before they scamper
off to bed to have a frightful dream about battles
with the Indians or of the good times at some of
their gatherings.

PIONEER DAYS 17

A PIONEER CHURCH.

Among the first buildings to be erected in any
frontier community was a "meeting house". It
was often used as a home for women and children
until the pioneer cabins could be built. It was then
used for church, or as they generally called it,
"meeting". In the same building they also had
other community gatherings, even using it as a
school house sometimes. They were never expen-
sive and the church was never pressed for "offer-
ings" or should I say, "collections"? They cared
not for finery and the church was never financially
embarrassed.

In the earlier days they were usually built of
logs but sometimes of lumber sawed with a whip-
saw or small saw-mill, operated by horse-power or
a water wheel. All the labor was donated and they
gladly gave it as a labor of love. Of course they
gave the material also.

They were given such names as Mount Olive,
Mount Pleasant, Mount Pisgah, Mount Moriah,
Mount Nebo, Pleasant Grove, Bethel, New Jerusa-
lem, Sharon, etc. Sometimes they were nicknamed
by the irreverent and given such appellations as
"*God's Barn," "Board Shanty," and "Hell's Half
Acre," and these names became more common than
the real ones.

18 PIONEER DAYS

Old Sharon was a rural church located in a splen-
didly shaded grove. It was a fairly well construct-
ed frame building about thirty by forty feet, and
every piece was worked out by hand. Even the
flooring, ceiling and weather-boarding were hand-
dressed. The altar or pulpit, as it was called, was
a good piece of architecture and was approached
by "three upright regular steps".

The seats were common benches. The corner to
the right of the preacher was called the "Amen
Corner," and was reserved for the old men. If the
old church were still standing, I could go back and
hang my hat on the very nail on which my father
used to hang his. For lack of a better name the
opposite corner was nicknamed the "A Woman
Corner" by some wag. On one side they had seats
for the boys and men, and on the other they had
seats for the girls and women, and let us say that
this rule was sacredly adhered to. In one case a
young man went in and sat down with his best girl.
The preacher politely told him to move to the other
side. He was reluctant but obeyed.

Let me digress here long enough to say that the
boys seldom accompanied their girls to church, but
often went home with them from the night service.
Sometimes they had no previous arrangements and
had some very ingenious ways of asking for the
privilege of accompanying the girl home. A boy
might say, "Do you love chicken?" and if she
wished to give a favorable reply, she said, "Yes,

JO
3KJ JO

iiHd>AYS 19

sir". He would then extend an arm and say, "Take
a wing". Again he might say, "The moon shines
bright, Can I go home with you tonight"? If fa-
vorable, the answer was, "The stars do too. I
don't care if you do." Not- every fellow of the
crowd that stood in waiting at the door like a gang
of unweaned calves was favorably considered and
a negative answer was called a "sack". Most of
the boys accepted that without a word and, greatly
embarrassed, got out of the crowd as soon as they
could, but others were "game" and gave rejoind-
ers. Once at least this dialog took place :

Boy : ' ' Can I see you home tonight 1 ' '

Girl: "No, sir."

Boy: " Give me a string. "

Girl: "Ain't got any."

Boy: "Give me your garter, then. That will
do."

I know the name of that youngster, but please
ask me no questions, for I shall not tell. The law
grants immunity from giving evidence against our-
selves.- Another boy wished to compromise the
matter and said he wanted to go only as far as
Uncle Mack's.

Of course, they had to be governed by the
weather, but in the summer, in particular, the
young men gathered in the grove and "swapped
yarns" until some one in the house began a song
which was the signal to come in for the services

20 PIONEER DAYS

to begin. Some of the young men would come in,
but the rowdies stayed outside. The sermon was
usually very long, the services often lasting from
11:00 o'clock until after 1:00 o'clock. Once a
young fellow came out from towrn hoping to go
home with one of the girls, and he tarried with the
gang outside. If nothing else made him unpopular,
the simple fact that he was wanting to pay his re-
spects to one of the ''country girls" would make
him so, and he had to be the victim of all their
jokes. He expressed a wonder at the length of the
sermon and asked how long it lasted. They told
him that it would last until time to go home and do
up the chores late in the evening. He believed it
and left just in time for some other fellow to get
to go home with the girl.

They had no organ and no choir (war depart-
ment of the church), but usually some old man with
his coarse gutteral voice, or a woman with her high-
pitched nasal voice led the singing. There were
few song books and the preacher would "line the
hymns", that is, he would read a line or a stanza
and then they would sing it, and thus on thru the
song. In many churches there was, and in a few
there is yet, a prejudice against any kind of musi-
cal instrument in the church, and it was so strong
that some times it was a rock upon -which the
church was wrecked.

Sometimes they had revivals and while some
preacher or layman would be praying, others would

PIONEER DAYS 21

be saying such things as "Lord grant it," "Yes,
Lord," and "Amen," all in a groaning tone that
people could hardly understand. I presume the
Lord did. Once, while such a performance was
going on a venerable, gray-haired brother was pick-
ing his nose and saying some of these things. It
looked like he was taking on about his nose. Some
boys saw it and laughed. One of the deacons rep-
rimanded them. His attention was called to it and
even he had to laugh.

The preacher was sometimes one of their number
but usually he was some man with a great big heart
and little ambition to accumulate money, and
whose reputation as a preacher extended far be-
yond the confines of his own community. He was
always reverent and sincere and his every word
and act proved it. The best people of the com-
munity loved him and the others respected him.
He always had the power to drive his message di-
rect to his hearers. "A man he was to all the
country dear," but he was not getting rich at forty,
pounds a year, for the collections were usually
small.

"But in his duty prompt at every call,

He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all;

And as a bird each fond endearment tries,

To tempt its new-fledged off-spring to the skies,

He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,

Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.

"Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt and pain by turns dismayed,
The reverend champion stood. At his control.

22 PIONEER DAYS

Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last falt'ring accents whispered praise,

"At church with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools who came to scoff remained to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With steady zeal each honest rustic ran.

His ready smile, a parent's warmth expressed;
Their welfare pleased him and their cares distressed;
To them, his heart, his love, his grief were given.
But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven.

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form.
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the stor<m,
Tho round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Et-ernal sunshine settles on its head."

I have described here my old home church. Of
course, my experience does not date back to pio-
neer days, but many of the old customs still pre-
vailed and I recall that my father and other old
settlers told me many of the things that made the
memory of the old church a sacred memory to them.
This church was built about 1840, and destroyed
by a cyclone in 1889. A new one was erected on
the spot, but is now unused. I believe the rural
church entered more into the social and religious
life of the communities than did others. They
have served their purpose and, having done so, are
passing swiftly away.

PIONEER DAYS 23

A PIONEER SCHOOL.

In pioneer days, as now, four things were essen-
tial to a good school. They were the material
equipment, the parents, the children and the
teacher. .

The idea was not by any means general that the
girls needed an education and, rough and rugged
as the people were, they thought that any place was
good enough for a school house. Sometimes it was
an abandoned building. It may have been an old
corn crib. In one instance, at least, it was an old
stable. Little attention was paid to heat, light or
ventilation. If they did not burn or freeze that
was sufficient. They were not comfortably seated
and no attention was paid to beautifying the school
room or surroundings. Even a heating stove was a
rare thing. Usually it was a fire-place where a
pupil would roast one side, while the other was
freezing. An opening made by cutting a log out
of one side served as a window and when it was
too cold, the window was either closed up entirely
or at best it was covered with greased paper. Glass
for windows was so rare that mention was made of
one as the first and only one in the State having
"real glass- windows."

One of these schools which I think is a typical
one, was held for many years in an old church

24 PIONEER DAYS

house. It was a frame building much larger than
the average, possibly about thirty by forty feet. It
stood on pillars. 'There was no underpinning and
the hogs which were allowed to run at large often
bedded under it. The noise they made furnished
great amusement to the boys and girls. The floor
was so open that the wind could whistle thru it. If
a pencil were dropped it was sure to roll thru a
crack and if a finger of boy or girl went up., it
meant that the individual wanted to go out, cr? wl
under the floor and get the lost pencil.

The seats were just long benches, sometimes ar-
ranged to face the fire-place or sometimes arranged
in a square around the stove. The benches wtre
often merely logs split open and pegs driven in the
round side for legs. Four was the maximum num-
ber of desks they had, one for the large boys, cne
for the small boys and the same for the girls. They
were, of course, home made. A blackboard possi-
bly a yard square, made of plank was all they had
and, as they thought, all they needed. One box of
crayon would last several years. Instead of crayon
they sometimes used a kind of clay they called kale.
If they had a map of the United States and another
of the hemispheres they thought themselves well
supplied along that line.

Often the Bible was the only reader in school.
They used the "Old Blue-backed Speller," written
by Noah (Noah Webster). An advanced arith-
metic was considered the most important of all.

PIONEER DAYS 25

It was a source of great pride to a boy to go thru
the arithmetic, for his education was then com-
pleted. The teacher could not "learn" him any-
thing more and he could quit school. As we say
now, he graduated. There was no library in school
and there were but few books in the community.
In fact well-graded text-books did not exist.

The teacher taught them how to make pens of
quills and ink of balls they got from small oak
trees in the woods. He set the copy for them to
write. Here is one of them, "Luck at the coppy
careful." You see, he had not mastered the spell-
ing book and that he did not know by any means
all about grammar. Tho "all declared how much
he knew," it is evident that his scholarship would
not pass muster now. They used slates and home-
made soapstone (talc) pencils. The teacher "board-
ed round," i.e., the people took it turn about in
boarding him. They paid so much per pupil or
"scholar" as they called it. A little later, the
"deestrict" (district) school was organized by law
and the teacher was paid partly out of public funds
and finally all was paid that way.

The children liked to chew the corners of their
books and to throw spit balls. Occasionally they
became unruly and it resulted in a "free-for-all"
bout, or sometimes it was "a fair field and no fav-
ors" between the teacher and the bully of the
school. If the teacher whipped all was well and
he was respected from then on, but if the boy came

26 PIONEER DAYS

out victorious he was a hero and the teacher left in
disgrace. The boys often prided themselves on
being able to take lots of punishment and saying
that it never hurt. One of their favorite sports
was "lap-jacket." I In this the boys would get the
best switches they could, two would join left hands
and whip each other with these switches. The one
who flinched first was, of course, the loser and was
laughed at by all the crowd. The victor must then
go thru the same ordeal with some one else who

was sure to challenge his championship. |

1

In one instance a "gum-wax" (sweet gum) tree
stood about a quarter of a mile from the building
and at noon many of the boys and girls, all of whom
took their dinners, would rush to their baskets,
grab their hands full of food and make a "bee
line" for this tree, and they stood around it like
"coon dogs" around a "coon tree". Each would
pick away at the wax, putting each little particle
into his mouth until he had a good "chaw" (chew).
Then he would give up his place and go away to
trade his wax out of his mouth to some one who
was not fortunate enough to get to the tree. They
were not altogether selfish. Sometimes the big boys
would gather a good "chaw" and give it to the
big girls, receiving in return a pleasant smile. At
other times they would lend their wax. It "was
common to hear some little one begging:

"Let me chaw yer wax till recess."

"Boo! boo!" said a little fellow.

PIONEER DAYS 27

"What is the matter now?" said the teacher.
"I swallered my wax," said the little fellow.
"It won't hurt you," said the teacher.
"But I borrowed it from Bill and he'll lick me
at recess," said the little fellow.

In the school room, then, good discipline did not
always consist in keeping quiet, but sometimes it
was in keeping noisy. To be sure they studied, the
teacher required them to study aloud and if it be-
came too quiet the teacher would say, "Spell out,
spell out!" On Friday afternoons they often had
spelling matches, where they chose sides and spelled
down or it might be a "program," as they called
it, which consisted of "saying pieces" gotten "by
heart" from some old book. Sometimes on Friday
nights they had a spelling match between differ-
ent schools or possibly they had a debate in which
the older people took great interest. All these
things were important factors in the education of
the people at that time.

In the earlier days, the teacher was always a
man and he had to be a man, physically, but condi-
tions changed and many ladies were employed.
Most of them had high ideals and their "boarding
round" served a good purpose in educating the
parents also and in securing interest in the school
and community interests in general. The memory
of the pioneer teacher was a sacred memory to the
children of the pioneers. They served well their
generation and did their part of the work toward
the evolution of man as man shall be when time
shall be no more.

28 PIONEER DAYS

THE PIONEER MOTHER.

To all those who have builded well, we give our
meed of praise, but especially do we wish to honor
the pioneer mother who left the comforts of the old
home "back East" and took up the painful and
dangerous journey to the woodlands and the prai-
ries of the "Illinois Country," and made possible,
this great commonwealth.

' ' Westward the course of empire takes its way, ' '
and with this westward trend of civilization, came
the pioneer mother who turned her tear-dimmed
eyes from all that civilization then afforded, from
all that was dear to her — father, mother, sisters,
playmates — and all the haunts of her early child-
hood. All these she left, knowing the indomitable
spirit of herself and her husband and, trusting in
God, bidding farewell to all these things of sacred
and hallowed memories, she looks hopefully to the
West.

They were the best of the best, many of them de-
scendants of Puritan or Cavalier. They sought not
freedom to worship God, for that their grandfath-
ers and grandmothers had secured. They sought
not political liberty, for that their mothers and
fathers had secured. They sought not "Bright
jewels of the mine," but they sought opportunities
to build homes, where what they earned would be
their own.

PIONEER DAYS 29

They came from all the conveniences of the age,
not to fields waving with golden grain nor to cities
of churches, schools and factories, but they came
to a wilderness filled with wild animals and wilder
men, "away out west," where every vision was
new and where the heart ached for a familiar voice
or a familiar scene.

The pioneer mother has come and gone, but she
did not live in vain. She did her part of the work
toward the evolution of man as man shall be wrhen
time shall be no more. Verily, "Their works do
live after them". Because the pioneers did their
duty in the days that were dark and terrible and
splendid, there has been a great transformation.
Forests have been cleared away, the sod of the
prairies has been broken up. The wild animals
have disappeared. The Indian is no longer here to
use his tomahawk and scalping knife, but he too,
has taken up his slow and painful journey toward
the setting sun. In the place of all these are pleas-
ant farm homes where in season can be seen the
broad expanse of fields waving with golden grain.
Churches dot the land, lifting their spires toward
Heaven, showing that the people have faith in the
God their fathers and mothers so nobly served. No
less conspicuous are the common schools dedicated
to the education of the masses. Great cities have
been built, connected with each other by roads of
steel, over which travel mighty engines of com-
merce.

30 PIONEER DAYS

"The mothers of our Forest Land!
Stout-hearted dames were they;

With nerves to wield the battle-brand.
And join the border fray."

Today we vie with each other in doing homage
to the pioneer. While this is a general terra, let us
not forget that to the pioneer mother is due a full
share of the praise for giving us the blessings that
we today enjoy. From earliest traditions we have
honored the hero, but seldom has the heroine been
mentioned. Let her be immortalized in bronze and
marble, in song and story, and in all that is endur-
ing.

0 blessed Soul of the Wilderness! To thee we
bring our tribute of praise — yes, to thee, we, thy
descendants, grateful for all that thou hast said
and done, grateful for all thy sufferings and sac-
rifices, we say with a heart full of reverence, "Bless
thee, 0 my soul!"

PIONEER DAYS 31

"GOING TO MILL."

In the "good old days" they had to resort to
various expedients in preparing the food for the
table. Perhaps 110 phase of it is more interesting
than the story of how they ground their corn and
wheat.

In many families they had a grater. They per-
haps called it a "gritter. " It was made of a piece
of tin, most any size, that it was possible to get.
They punched it full of holes, bent it with the
rough side convex and nailed it to a piece of board,
thus forming a sort of semi-cylinder. The corn on
the cob was rubbed on this, like rubbing clothes on
a washboard, and it was ground into meal which
fell on the board and ran down into a wooden
trough made for the purpose. This was a laborious
process, but it was the best that many of them had.

The next step was what some have called the
"hominy block." It was arranged on the top of
a stump or a block cut from a tree and set on end
and hewn out or burned out so as to make it some-
thing like a large mortar. For a pestle they some-
times used a large, smooth stone weighing some fif-
teen or twenty pounds. This was very much like
the plan the Indians had of putting the corn in a
hole in a rock and rubbing it with another. They
sometimes made a sort of maul, perhaps three feet
long and weighing ten or fifteen pounds. They

32 PIONEER DAYS

even improved this and bent a sapling over, at-
tached a piece of timber, six or more inches in
diameter and six or eight feet long, in such a man-
ner as to allow the timber to be brought down by
pulling it. By this process, the labor was lessened.
The inventive mind, prodded on by necessity, de-
vised another plan. If a sapling were not handy,
they sometimes laid a pole twenty-five or thirty
feet long across a fork and with the heavy end
under the corner of the house in such a manner as
to allow the spring of the pole to lift the weight.

Next comes the hand-mill, very much like those
used in the Holy Land today, and to which the
Savior referred when he said, "Two women shall
be grinding at a mill, the one shall be taken
and the other left." It was made of two stones, one
of which was stationary and called the bed stone.
A movable one above it .*was«vcalleqk the runner. A

\ *

shaft was put thru the runner, one end terminating
in the bed stone and the other in a hole in a piece
of timber above. Thru this shaft, a pole perhaps
ten feet long was put in such a manner as to make
two handles against which two people could push.
The corn was fed thru a hole in the runner and
the meal fell out from under it at the edges. This
was free for the neighborhood and every family
did their own grinding.

Perhaps the next step was the horse mill, made
very much the same way only larger, allowing the
horse or oxen to go in a circle twenty feet or more

PIONEER DAYS 33

iii diameter. This was still improved by putting
the horse, or team of horses, or yoke of oxen, to a
separate "sweep" fastened to an upright beam
which was the axle of a wheel fifteen or twenty
feet in diameter. This large wheel carried a deer-
skin or cow-hide belt working on a much smaller
wheel on the axle of the runner. About that time
they began to charge toll and the law said it should
be one-tenth. They had not then worked out a
system of weighing the grain and giving them
their milling, but each had to wait until his own
was ground. People went long distances and often
had to wait a long time. This gave rise to the ex-
pression, "like going to mill," when you are ex-
pected to await your turn. It is said that when
General Logan was a boy, he drove thirty miles to
mill. He, of course, had to stay all night, but that
night it rained. The belt got wet and stretched so
that it fell. Some hungry dogs chewed part of it
up so badly that they had to kill an ox, tan the hide
and make part of a new belt. In this way, he was
detained several days. My father, when just a lad,
drove a yoke of oxen fully that far with a load of
corn and wheat. Part of the wheat he sold at fifty
cents a bushel.

The next step in this evolution was the water-
mill, which was very much the same, but was run
by water-power. If for no other reason, this kind
of mill will be remembered thruout the ages on ac-
count of the popular poem, "Little Jerry, the
Miller".

34 PIONEER DAYS

Near the close of pioneer days, the steam mill
came into existence. Not until then was there a
definite system worked out whereby people could
exchange corn or wheat for meal or flour and get
away without waiting for their own to be ground.
Mills became more plentiful and people took small-
er amounts to mill, often not more than three bush-
els of corn and three of wheat, and sometimes less
than that. They spoke of this as a "turn of mill-
ing". Very little wheat was used for it was so
hard to harvest and to thresh. Fifty bushels was
considered a large crop of wheat. If it was bolted
at all, it was thru a deer-skin full of small holes,
punched with a red-hot wire. In few things have
people changed more than in preparing "bread-
stuff".

PIONEER DAYS 35

"A RANGER'S ADVENTURE."

(From Historical Collections of the Great West,
Published 1853.)

Thomas Higgins was enlisted in a company of
rangers and was stationed, in the summer of 1814,
in a block-house eight miles south of Greenville, in
what is now Bond County, Illinois. On the evening
of the 30th of August, a small party of Indians
having been seen prowling about the station, Lieu-
tenant Journay with all his men, twelve only in
number, sallied forth the next morning just before
daylight in pursuit of them. They had not pro-
ceeded far on the border of the prairie before they
were in an ambuscade of seventy or eighty sav-
ages. At the first fire the lieutenant and three of his
men were killed. Six fled to the fort under covet
of the smoke, for the morning was sultry and the
air being damp, the smoke from the guns hung like
a cloud over the scene, but Higgins remained be-
hind to have "one more pull at the enemy," and
avenge the death of his companions.

He sprang behind a small elm, scarcely sufficient
to protect his body, when, the smoke partly rising,
he discovered a number of Indians. He fired and
shot down the foremost one.

Still concealed by the smoke, Higgins reloaded,
mounted his horse and turned to flee when a voice

36 PIONEER DAYS

hailed him, "Torn, you won't leave me, will you?"
He turned around and seeing a fellow soldier by the
name of Burgess, lying on the ground and gasping
for breath, replied, "No, I'll not leave you, come
along." "I can't," said Burgess, "my leg is all
smashed to pieces." Higgins dismounted, and tak-
ing up his friend, was about to lift him onto his
horse, when the animal, taking fright, darted off
in an instant and left them both behind. "This is
too bad," said Higgins, "but don't fear; hop off
on your three legs and I'll stay between you and
the Indians and keep them off. Get into the tallest
grass and crawl as near the ground as possible."
Burgess did so and escaped.

The smoke which had concealed Higgins now
cleared away and he resolved if possible to retreat.
To follow the track of Burgess was most expedient.
It would, however, endanger his friend. He de-
termined, therefore, to venture boldly forward and
if discovered, to secure his own safety by the rap-
idity of his flight. On leaving a small thicket in
which he had sought refuge, he discovered a tall,
portly savage near by and two others between him
and the fort. He paused for a moment and thought
if he could separate them and fight them singly his
case would not be so desperate. He started for a
little rivulet near, but found one of his limbs fail-
ing him, it having been struck by a ball in the first
encounter, of which till now he was scarcely con-
scious. The largest Indian pressed close upon him

PIONEER DAYS 37

and Iliggins turned round two or three times to
fire. The Indian halted and danced about to pre-
vent his taking aim. He saw it was unsafe to fire
at random and, perceiving two others approaching,
knew he must be overpowered in a moment unless
he could dispose of the forward Indian first. He
resolved to halt and receive his fire. The Indian
raised his rifle and Higgins, watching his eye,
turned suddenly and received the ball in his thigh.
He fell but rose immediately and ran. The fore-
most Indian, now certain of his prey, loaded again
and with the other two pressed on. The whole
three fired. He now fell and rose a third time and
the Indians, throwing away their guns, advanced
upon him with spears and knives. As he presented
his gun at one or the other, each fell back. At
last the largest Indian, supposing his gun to be
empty, from his fire having been thus reserved, ad-
vanced boldly to the charge. Iliggins fired and
the savage fell.

He now had four bullets in his body, an empty
gun in his hands, two Indians unharmed before
him and a whole tribe but a few yards distant.
Any other man would have despaired. Not so with
him. He had slain the most dangerous of the three
and, having little fear of the others, he began to
load his rifle. They raised a savage whoop and
rushed to the encounter. A bloody conflict en-
sued. The Indians stabbed him in several places.
At last one of them threw a tomahawk, laid bare

38 PIONEER DAYS

his skull and stretched him \ipon the prairie. The
Indians again rushed on, but Higgins, recovering
his self-possession, kept them off with his feet and
hands. Higgins grasped one of their spears and
the Indian in attempting to pull it from him, raised
him up. With his rifle he dashed out the brains of
the nearest savage. In doing so he broke it, the
barrel only remaining in his hands. The other In-
dian who had fought with caution came now man-
fully into the battle. To have fled from a man thus
wounded and disarmed or to have suffered his vic-
tim to escape would have tarnished his name for-
ever. Uttering, therefore, a terrific yell, he rushed
on and attempted to stab the exhausted ranger, but
the latter warded off his blow with one hand and
brandished his rifle-barrel with the other. The In-
dian was yet unharmed and under existing circum-
stances the most powerful man. Higgins' courage,
however, was unexhausted and inexhaustible. The
savage at last began to retreat from the glare of
his untamed eye to the spot where he dropped his
rifle. Higgins knew that if he recovered that, ftis
own case was desperate. Throwing his rifle barrel
aside and drawing his hunting knife, he rushed
upon his foe. A desperate strife ensued. Higgins,
fatigued and exhausted by the loss of blood, was
no longer a match for the savage. The latter suc-
ceeded in throwing his adversary from him and
went immediately in quest of his rifle. Higgins at
the same time sought for the gun of the other In-

PIONEER DAYS 39

dian. Both, bleeding and out of breath, were in
search of arms to renew the combat.

The smoke had now cleared away and a large
number of Indians were in view. It would seem
that nothing could save the gallant ranger. There
was, however, an eye to pity and an arm to save,
and that arm was a woman's. The little garrison
had witnessed the whole combat. It consisted of
six men and one woman, but that woman, a Mrs.
Pursley, was a host. When she saw Higgins con-
tending single-handed with a whole tribe of sav-
ages, she urged the rangers to attempt the rescue.
The rangers objected as the Indians were ten to
one. Mrs. Pursley snatched a rifle from her hus-
band's hands and declaring, "So fine a fellow as
Tom Higgins should not be lost for want of help,"
mounted a horse and sallied forth to his rescue.
The men, unwilling to be outdone by a woman,
followed at full gallop, reached the spot where Hig-
gins fell before the Indians came up, and while
the savage with whom he had been engaged was
looking for his rifle, they threw the wounded ran-
ger across a horse before one of the party and
reached the fort in safety.

Iliggins was insensible for several days and his
life was preserved only by continual care. His
friends extracted two balls from his thigh but two
remained and one of them gave him a great deal
of pain. Hearing that a physician had settled within
a day's ride of him, he went to see him, but the

40 PIONEER DAYS

physician asked him fifty dollars and this Higgins
flatly refused to pay. On reaching him he re-
quested his wife to hand him his razor. With her
assistance he laid open his thigh until the razor
touched the bullet, then inserting his two thumbs
into the gash he "flirted it out," as he used to say,
"without costing him a cent." The other ball yet
remained, tho it gave him but little pain and he
carried it Avith him to his grave. Higgins died in
Fayette County a few years since. He was the
most perfect specimen of a frontier man in his day
and was once assistant door-keeper in the House
of Representatives in Illinois. The facts above
stated are familiar to many to whom Higgins was
personally known and there is no doubt of their
correctness.

To the foregoing I might add that Higgins was
once engaged to fight a duel. It was to be fought
with rocks. A pile of rocks of convenient size to
be thrown was arranged for each one of them at a
distance of ten steps from each other. Each had
his seconds and when the word was given, the
rocks went from Higgins so much like the shot
from a rapid-fire gun that the other fellow fled.
Thus ended the duel in favor of Higgins.

PIONEER DAYS 41

"LASSES."

My dear reader, I am not giddy. I am not talk-
ing about girls but I am talking about something
sweeter. Those who have never had the pleasure
of playing around a sugar camp could never guess
what it is, so I will tell. It is sugar molasses. They
used to call it "lasses". In pioneer days there
were many sugar camps out in the woods, where
there were lots of maples or, as they were called,
"sugar trees". When the sap began to run, they
took kettles, kegs, buckets, pans, gourds and other
things too numerous to mention and went to the
woods.

The trees were tapped by boring holes into them
and putting an "elder" (alder) stalk into the hole
in such a manner as to make a spout, which ran the
s;ip into a trough made by cutting a log two or
three feet long, splitting it in halves and digging
it out something like the Indians used to do for
canoes.

The "sap" or "drip" was hauled in every morn-
ing on a small sled with a barrel on it, and it was
put to boiling as soon as possible. Sometimes the
"bailiwick" of one man overlapped another's, and
it often caused trouble. Deer liked this sap also,
and sometimes a man went to his trough and found
it like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. That' oc-
casionally caused trouble, also, as competitors were

42 PIONEER DAYS

liable to accuse each other of taking their sap. In
one instance, of which I recall hearing my father
speak, two men had trouble at a sugar camp and
one killed the other. . The dying man requested
that he be buried where he killed his last "buck".
His request was granted and he was buried on the
top of the hill where the wind, moaning in the
trees, sang his requiem for fifty years.

Some of them had to stay at camp at night and
occasionally a deer or other animal would come up,
attracted either by the light or the scent of the
camp. Their eyes could be seen shining far back
in the dark, in fact, so far back that the men could
see only the eyes of the animals, but that was
enough, for the pioneer was a good shot and he
usually got them. This was called "shining a
deer."

Children were all around the camp and as happy
as mortals could be. Smoke, ashes, dirt and "lass-
es" so completely covered them that you could
scarcely have told whether they were white or
black. By means of shifting sap from one kettle
to another, they had some cooked to sugar, some to
"lasses" and some not quite so far along. It was
good "fillin' " and the children couldn't keep out
of it. If they had a stic"k or a paddle, they used it
and if not, they dipped their fingers in and then
licked them off. My experience goes back just far
enough that I had a chance to see the last of the
sugar camps in Illinois. Gee! The kiddies of the
twentieth century do not know what they have
missed !

PIONEER DAYS 43

"BUCK=SKIN BREECHES."

On the Big Muddy River in Jackson County,
there lived in the "good old days" a well-to-do
family who had a beautiful daughter, who was
the admiration of the young men for miles around.
There came to court her one winter's evening one
of the young men of the neighborhood, dressed in
the best that pioneer life afforded. As is, of course,
always the case when a young man goes to see his
best girl, the hours passed swiftly by and it was
time for him to go home, but it began to rain and
he was persuaded to stay all night. When he was
shown his apartment, he bade the lovely girl ' ' good
night," hastily undressed, carelessly dropped his
buck-skin breeches on the floor and was soon in a
snug, warm bed and since it was late, he soon fell
asleep.

It became a cold, blustery night. The rain and
sleet blew into his room and completely covered
his breeches, much of it going inside. As it turned
colder his breeches were frozen so stiff that he could
make them stand alone. Imagine his consterna-
tion, if you can, when he awoke the next morning
and found his Sunday breeches in that condition.
What was he to do? What would you do? He
tried to put them on, but it was out of the question.
Taking them in his hands, he went to the room
of the mother and father of the girl, where there

44 PIONEER DAYS

was the only fire-place in the house. He sat them
against the jamb to thaw out and to dry while he
scampered back to bed. Troiible enough it seemed
to him, but it was only the beginning, for as they
thawed out next the fire, they naturally fell that
way and fell in. Finally, the father began to smell
burning leather and jumped out of bed, but too
late to save the young man's breeches. They were
damaged beyond use. The young man was in-
formed of the accident but what could he do ex-
cept to stay in bed until another pair could be
fixed up for him and that is just what he did. The
father came to the rescue and lent him a pair, and
without much ceremony the boy turned his steps
homeward. Just what the girl thought of this un-
usual performance, neither history nor tradition
tells us, but we are told that it was a long time be-
fore he had the courage to even look at the girl
again and that he finally married another girl.

PIONEER DAYS 45

PIONEER BOATMEN.

Many and marvelous are the changes that have
been made in all the walks of human endeavor in
the last one hundred years, but I believe there are
no changes that are more marked than have been
made in transportation. This is particularly true
as applied to rivers.

Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were
content to ply the Father of Waters and the Illi-
nois in company with the Indians in their little
canoes, scarcely dreaming of the changes a few
generations were to bring forth. A few years later
the French were going on exploring and trading
voyages. down the Ohio with boats large enough to
carry considerable quantities of freight. This con-
tinued until their plans were frustrated when the
English drove them from their uncompleted fort
where Pittsburgh now stands.

A few years later Colonel George Rogers Clark
and his intrepid band of soldiers floated down the
Ohio in a boat still more pretentious. They were,
in a sense, pathfinders and it was the beginning of
a new day, for after the Revolutionary War was
over, navigation of the Ohio and the Mississippi
began in earnest. Many of the men who had been
in Clark's expedition went back to settle on the
rich farming land in what is now known as the
American Bottom above Kaskaskia. Others cnr/'e

46 PIONEER DAYS

in large parties from the old home "back East",
pushed across the mountains to the Monongaheia
Valley or to Pittsburgh, or some other point on
the Ohio, and built large flat boats on which they
loaded all their belongings and finally landed some-
where on the Illinois shore or possibly they labori-
ously worked their way against the current up th(
Wabash or the Mississippi. These boats were from
fifty to sixty feet long and from twelve to fifteen
feet wide. One writer says, "They were loaded
with a little of everything". The cargo included
provisions for the trip, some tools — particularly
axes, a good supply of ammunition and a trusty
rifle for each man and boy, and possibly an extra
supply of clothing. To all these were added dogs,
chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep and cattle. We
must not forget that this was a passenger boat, too.
It must have looked very much like Noah's Ark,
for it is said that once a young fellow yelled at
the captain of one of these crafts and said:

"Hello, old Noah, have you any room for any-
thing else in your ark?"

The captain looked around for a moment and
said:

"Yes, I think we have room for a donkey yet;
come, jump on."

Following this, men made it a business to take
the products of the new country down to New Or-
leans. They made larger boats, called keel-boats.

PIONEER DAYS 47

They drank and gambled and had a glorious time
generally as they went down, regardless of the
fact that they were in constant danger of being
attacked by Indians or pirates, but the return trip
was one of toil and hardship. Often they could
make no progress at all against the current, and
they had to go ahead and tie a rope to a tree, then
pull themselves up "hand over," or sometimes
they wound the rope on a windlass. This took a
long time and a trip often lasted a whole season.
These boatmen were strong and courageous. They
had grown up on the rivers and were used to hard-
ships. They despised a life of ease and luxury.
They knew what danger was and courted it in all
its forms. They feared neither God nor Devil,
and much further were they from fearing man.
They often had to fight Indians and sometimes com-
peting crews fought to the death. Occasionally
they fell out among themselves and if things seemed
too quiet, they would have a fight just to see who
could whip.

A fair specimen of these boatmen was Mike Fink.
Immoral and unprincipled, but whatever his faults,
he was not a coward. It is said that he was a great
joker, but if any one failed to laugh at his jokes,
he gave them a whipping. He used to say, "I'm a
Salt River roarer ; I'm chuck full of fight and I love
the women." The following incident, however,
does not indicate that his last statement is true.
Once while his boat was tied up, another boatman

48 PIONEER DAYS

made a landing near his. Mike was seen to be in a
bad humor as he went into the edge of the woods
and raked up a large pile of dry leaves. They
asked him why he was doing it, but he went on sul-
lenly without a word. Finally it was as high as
his head and he went back to the boat and got his
rifle, then called to Peggy, his wife, to follow. She
knew something was wrong and said in alarm,
"Mr. Fink, what have I done?" No reply came,
but she followed as he led the way to the pile of
leaves. He ordered her to lie down and she obeyed.
Then he set fire to them and told her if she moved
he would shoot her. She stood it as long as she
could, but finally, with her hair and dress on fire,
she ran and jumped into the river. Then Mike,
with his usual profanity thrown in for emphasis,
said: "Now that'll larn ye not to be winkin' at
them fellers on t'other boat."

Most of them were good marksmen and he was
particularly so. Once he shot a negro in the heel
just to hear him yell. He had a friend who was an
equally good marksman and- they often used to
shoot a cup of whiskey off of each other's heads
at a distance of seventy steps. They had a quarrel,
but made up, and to celebrate the treaty they
agreed to try their old feat. They tossed up a
coin to see who might shoot first. Mike won and
when he fired his comrade fell dead. Mike at first
claimed it was an accident, but later, as if to jus-
tify his reputation as a marksman, he said he hit

PIONEER DAYS 49

where he aimed. The person to whom he spoke
drew a pistol and put a bullet thru his heart. Thus
died Mike Fink, the last of the keel boatmen.

In 1811, the same year as the great earthquake
at New Madrid, the first steamboat west of the
Alleghenies was built at Pittsburgh. It was named
the New Orleans. As it made its first trip down
the Ohio and the Mississippi, many interesting
things of note occurred. Many of the people had
never heard of a steamboat, nor would they have
believed the story within the realm of possibility.
On a fine, still, moonlight night it rounded in at
Louisville. The escaping steam and the noise in
rounding to land produced a general alarm and the
whole town was up in a little while and down at
the river. A comet had recently been visible and
the superstitious people thought it had fallen into
the river. Greater consternation was added to the
scene because they believed that a comet was a
harbinger of war and many other dire punishments
from the Almighty. It is said that many others,
who either heard or saw the boat on the river for
the first time, fled for the hills and would not re-
turn for several days or until they were persuaded
to believe the true story of the new invention. It
plied the Ohio and the Mississippi from that time
until 1811, when it was sunk near Shreveport, Loui-
siana, but others had been built. This boat sounded
the death knell of the keel-boats. A new era in
navigation had been ushered in and the steamboat
had come to stay.

50 PIONEER DAYS

CAMP MEETINGS.

Contrary to the general belief, camp meetings
were originated by the Presbyterians, and not by
the Methodists, but the Methodists soon joined in
and it became a kind of union meeting. They began
in western Tennessee in the closing days of the
eighteenth century, but were soon introduced into
southern Illinois by the Methodists and were con-
tinued for a good many years.

A traveling preacher would go into a neighbor-
hood and would have such power over his congre-
gation that the people did not doubt that his power
was supernatural. The effect on the audience has
been variously described. It was somewhat anal-
ogous to mesmerism of our own times. Under the
peculiar eloquence of the preacher or the melody of
the songs, some one would begin shouting. It was
"catching", and in a few minutes the same thing
was going on all over the house. Soon they would
fall on the floor, sometimes rolling and jerking and
sometimes lying perfectly motionless, apparently in
a state midway between life and death for hours at
a time.

Of course, all those things brought great crowds,
some came for fun, some out of idle curiosity, but
no doubt a large percentage of them were prompted
by motives of pure religious devotion. Regardless
of their motives for gathering, they were "moved

PIONEER DAYS 51

by the Spirit", and many "who came to scoff re-
mained to pray". It was soon found that no house
would accommodate the crowds and they assem-
bled in a grove near some spring. People came by
the thousands and camped until the meetings closed
and this was sometimes for several weeks. Between
the sessions the people visited from camp to camp
and read the Bible, and while the sessions were on,
the wildest enthusiasm reigned. There were min-
gled voices of preaching, praying, crying and sing-
ing.

When the final session closed and the people de-
parted for their homes, they could be heard singing
and shouting praises to God, until their voices died
away in the distance.

52 PIONEER DAYS

WITCHCRAFT.

In 1799, two negroes, one at Kaskaskia and the
other at Cahokia, were adjudged guilty of witch-
craft and were burned at the stake, according to
law. This is but a clue to a belief that was quite
prevalent during the early days in Illinois.

The men were usually good marksmen but if,
while on a hunt, they were "out of luck," as we
would probably say, they said some one had be-
witched their gun and about the only way the spell
of the witch could be broken, was to take the gun
to a stream running from a certain spring, unscrew
the breech and allow the water to flow thru from
muzzle to breech for a certain number of hours.

If a cow became sick, it was generally thought
that she had either lost her cud or that she was
bewitched. If they diagnosed the case as the for-
mer malady, she was made to swallow a greasy
dishrag. If that did not cure, she was bewitched.
When her milk "fell off", that is, when she ceased
to give her usual amount of milk, which is always
the case when she is sick, the witches were milking
her. They supposed that the witch did it by hang
ing a towel over her own door and that by some
mysterious power she was able to cause the milk to
go from the cow to the towel and that the witch
then got the milk by wringing the towel.

PIONEER DAYS 53

They had an idea that if people became sick and
slippery elm or some other simple remedy would
not cure them, they were under the spell of a witch
and they had more faith in a "witch-master" than
in a medical doctor. If the person got well, they
thought the witch had lost her power and could
regain it only by borrowing something from the
family she wished to harm. It often happened that
the very best women of the community, who had
given the best of their lives to the community,
were refused the simplest favors because the peo-
ple were afraid they were giving new power to a
witch.

54 PIONEER DAYS

KASKASKIA CURSED.

That the following story is strictly historical, I
can not assert. That there is much truth in it, can
not be doubted. Many people, who are more or less
superstitious, are inclined to believe it all. With
the caution "not to take it too seriously" I am pub-
lishing it just because it is a good story.

Jean Benard was one of the first merchants in
Old Kaskaskia. His business prospered and he
soon became one of the most influential men in the
community. His home became a social center. This
was partly due to his geniality, but more to the
fact that he had a daughter who gained the repu-
tation of being the most beautiful girl in all the
Mississippi Valley. She had many a gay young
lover among the French from far and near, but it
seems that Fate had decreed that she should reject
all of them.

Many of the Kaskaskia Indians became con-
verted to Christianity. Among them was a young
man who strove hard to get an education and such
were his efforts that he soon gained the reputation
of being the best educated among the young men
of the community. He began trading and prospered
from the beginning. It was not long until he was
taken in as a partner in the largest trading estab-
lishment in Kaskaskia, and soon was on a level
socially with the young Frenchmen of the com-
munity.

PIONEER DAYS 55

It is to be supposed that a man as popular as he
and a girl as pretty as Marie would meet, and that
is just what happened, or did it "just happen?"
When they met, it was a case of love at first sight.
He admired her sweet' voice and her pretty face,
and she in turn could not help but admire his tall,
manly form and his plucky disposition. Benard
believed in the superiority of French blood and
could not bear the idea of his daughter's courting
an Indian, no matter what his standing, so he did
all he could against him, socially and financially,
and finally succeeded in forcing him out of busi-
ness and society, but love always finds a way and
in spite of the vigilant eye of Benard, they man-
aged to meet • occasionally until they chose to
change their plans.

No one knew the Indian's plans but Marie, and
she never told. He left Kaskaskia and for many
months no one ever heard of him. Benard thought
that his daughter had forgotten her lover, for she
appeared gay and careless and accepted with ap-
parent pleasure the attentions of young French-
men. One day a strange Indian appeared. That
night Marie and the strange Indian disappeared.
He was her old lover. The conclusion was, of
course, reached without much delay that the cou-
ple had fled together and this was correct. A party
was at once organized to follow, and as a new
snow had fallen, they were easily trailed. They
were overtaken near where the thriving city of Co-

56 PIONEER DAYS

lurabia now stands. The facts developed that he
had provided a home for her at the French settle-
ment of Chouteau, now a part of St. Louis, Mis-
souri.

In order to protect Marie, the Indian surrendered
without much resistance, and they were taken back
to Kaskaskia. Some of the men in the pursuing
party were rivals of the Indian for the hand oi
Marie and they and others of the posse wanted to
kill the Indian on the spot, but Benard claimed th<
right to name the punishment that should be meted
out to the lover of his daughter.

When the party reached Kaskaskia, the daugh-
ter was placed in a convent. Then they took the
Indian to the bank of the Mississippi, bound him
with his back to a log and set him afloat. As this
helpless Indian floated away he lifted his eyes to-
ward Heaven and with a loud voice he called down
the curse of God — on Benard and the city of Kas-
kaskia. He asked God to give a violent death to
Benard, to destroy Kaskaskia even to the graves
of the dead, leaving only the name. Benard was
killed in a duel, and how fully his curse on Kas-
kaskia was fulfilled, history tells us only too well,
for as he invoked God in his curse, the same mighty
river that was drifting him down to his doom, later
overflowed and swept away the entire town, leav-
ing not even their graves. The Father of Waters
now floats over the site of this one time proud me-
tropolis of the west. On dark, stormy nights, the

PIONEER DAYS 57

ghost of the Indian is said to appear. The spectre
with strong arms bound and with face upturned,
floats placidly on the river where it sweeps over
the vanished city in which Marie Benard lived and
in which she died mourning the Red Man whom
she loved.

58 PIONEER DAYS

FREAK LAWSUITS OF PIONEER DAYS.

At Shawneetown, Illinois, there is an old jus-
tice's docket that gives some interesting things
relative to law suits in that locality. Part of it
is scarcely legible and the language far from the
rules of grammar, but part of it is well written
and the language is a mark of scholarship in the
one who wrote it. Here are some things docketed
in 1822, just four years after Illinois had been ad-
mitted into the Union as a State. In one case the
judgment was for five dollars and thirty-seven and
a half cents, and it was the order of the court that
the judgment be paid in salt at three bits a bushel.
(A bit was a coin worth twelve and a half cents.)
In another case, a man was sued for four bits and
the verdict was, "We the jury find the defendant
guilty." In regard to the same case the further
notation was made, "The amount has been paid in
Kentucky paper and the court is satisfied." Still
another case gives judgment for one dollar and
fifty cents and costs, itemizing the costs as follows :
25 cents, 371/2 cents, 25 cents, 12^ cents, 371/2
cents.

There are other cases as interesting that are
nearer to our own times. In 1833, some religious
fanatics in Cass County attempted to burn an old
woman as a burnt offering, were indicted for riot-
ing and fined three dollars. In 1840, at old Browns

PIONEER DAYS 59

ville, near where Murphysboro now stands, two
men swore positively to a steer. One admitted
that he had not seen it for a year, but asserted that
he knew it because he was personally acquainted
with it. The justice could not tell which to believe
so he gave judgment that they kill the steer, di-
vide it equally between them and give the hide and
tallow to the court for the costs.

When the Illinois Central was being built, a large
gang of Irishmen were pushing wheelbarrows near
where Tamaroa now stands. They got on a drunk
and a warrant was issued for one of them. A con-
stable went to make the arrest. He could not get
him, but he fined him and took back with him both
fine and costs. That constable was Henry Clay, a
man who afterwards became a lawyer of consid-
erable ability and was a member of the Illinois
Legislature.

With rare exceptions the people were honest and
meant to be law-abiding. Their differences were as
a general thing "settled out of court", either by
mutual agreement, arbitration by a trusted neigh-
bor, or by fighting it out. The records give com-
paratively few cases of larceny and where steal-
ing did occur it was pressing necessities that
brought it about. In Jackson County a man by the
name of Wolf was brought before a justice charged
with stealing a hog. When the charges were read
and he was asked to plead guilty or not guilty, he
gave the following speech to the court. "If your

60 PIONEER DAYS

honor please, I believe I am, but if you have ;my
doubts as to the facts, just call on Bill Page. He
was with me and got half the shoat, but we needed
it or we would not have taken it." After knitting
his brow and scratching his head for a long time
the court said, "It appears from the testimony that
you, Wolf, the defendant in this suit, have violated
the statutory law of the State and are guilty of a
misdemeanor. You are fined five gallons of whis-
key and the costs, the court to be paid in deer
skins killed in the short blue season." (Perhaps
we should digress here long enough to explain that
the deer sheds twice a year. The heavy hair of the
winter is shed in the spring. It sheds again in the
fall and is left with a covering of short hair that in
color is between a blue and iron-gray.)

The following case does not belong under an ar-
ticle of this heading, but it is worthy of note, so

we here include the incident. A man named

was sentenced to be hanged at Albion. He had a
rifle that was coveted by all the neighbors for miles
around. One of them proposed that he would get
him a pardon for the rifle. The condemned man
accepted the proposition. The other man took a
jug and a paper and went to work among his
friends. In a short time he had enough signatures
to a petition for pardon to feel justified in present-
ing it to the Governor. The pardon was secured
and offered to the condemned man. He refused to
give up the rifle, saying the pardon was not worth

PIONEER DAYS 61

it. They were sitting before a big fire and the man
who secured the petition threw the petition behind
the back-log. This brought the criminal to time.
The pardon was gotten out before it burned up,
and the man was released.

62 PIONEER DAYS

MONEY OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

To use the language of one of the pioneers,
"Money was purty scace (pretty scarce) in them
days." And they had such a variety of standards
that they seldom knew what their money was
worth or how it would fluctuate in value. Tf a
person proposed a trade the answer often came
back in an inquiry, "What kind of money have
you got?" The answer may have been, "Govern-
ment money," but it was more likely to be "State
money," or "Kentucky money," or some other
kind of money, or still more likely it was a general
statement of what he had to trade. Various hides
and other things had a value placed on them and
they passed as currency. Debts were made and
they were paid with them. In some localities notes
were given promising to pay so many saddles of
venison at a certain time. In other localities cattle
were made the standard of value. They were rated
as "first-rate," "second-rate" and "third-rate".
A first-rate cow and calf was worth ten dollars in
State money. A second-rate one was worth eight
dollars and a third-rate was worth six dollars.

Thus all property was rated and if a man wil-
fully rated his property wrongly he was considered
what we would call a "crook" and it was hard to
get people to trade with him. Neighbors were
sometimes called in to rate their goods. The judg-

PIONEER DAYS 63

ment of these neighbors was law and from their de-
cision there was no appeal. Milk, butter, eggs,
beef, pork, venison, etc., were all given away among
the neighbors for their own use, but for the mar-
ket they had a value — pork, beef and venison at
about half a cent per pound, eggs about three cents
per dozen, and butter, if at all, three cents per
pound. This is the kind of money they had to pay
"the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick mak-
er", and the preacher, too, but they were their own
butchers, their own bakers and candle-stock-makers
and some one of their own number was the
preacher.

64 PIONEER DAYS

SETTLING THEIR DIFFERENCES.

Illinois is a big State and people came from
many sections in the ''good old days," so we might
expect that customs differed widely. In few local-
ities was it always possible to settle their differ-
ences without resorting to personal encounters. Be
it said, however, that they fought "fair", that is,
each man depended absolutely on his skill or power
of endurance without resorting to weapons. When
they had a fight, that settled all, for no one was
considered a man if he did not take the conse-
quences without a complaint afterwards. It was
a rule to fight in the open, a square stand-up fight
and to fight hard and when one hollowed the other
was to pour water for him to wash, then vice-versa.

"On one occasion a couple of old 'cubs' got into
a fight. They 'fibbed' away merrily on each oth-
er's ribs, for a while, stuck out viciously for the
'bread baskets', handled their 'mauleys' dexter-
ously, sent in 'stingers' on 'potato-traps', 'pasted'
each other hotly in their respective 'smellers', after
the most approved style of the fistic art, and in ac-
cordance with the rule of the 'London prize ring'.
At last one got the head of the other in 'chancery'
and he was forced to cry 'enough'. As the winner
of the first round was pouring water on the hands
of the loser, the latter said, 'Well, you have
whipped me, but I'll bet you five venison hams

PIONEER DAYS 65

that my wife can whip your wife.' The bet was
soon taken and the time appointed for the 'set-to'
between the women." The incident ended here, for
they found the women utterly unwilling to make
themselves ridiculous and to degrade themselves
in such a manner.

66 PIONEER DAYS

A TRAPPER'S PREDICAMENT.

In those days wild turkeys were common and
people often caught them in a trap called a turkey
pen, constructed or rather built as follows: With
poles they would build a pen about six feet square
on the side of a hill, and would dig a ditch about
a foot deep on the lower side running up into the
pen. They would cover it with poles and to give
it a forest-like appearance would throw brush
around it. With corn scattered profusely in the
ditch, the turkeys were lured up into the pen, but
a turkey will not look down for a way out so they
are caught. A man named Charles Davis built one
of these pens and going to it one morning, found
that he had several turkeys in it. He partly re-
moved the cover and climbed in. The frightened
turkeys made a lot of noise and attracted a hungry
wolf. It did not see Davis and it came bounding
down the hill and into the pen and upon him. Im-
agine the scene if you can — man, wolf and turkeys
all wanting out. It did not take Davis long to get
busy. Without being told, he opened practically
the whole top of the pen to make plenty of room
and wolf, turkeys and man all escaped. In speak-
ing of the incident afterwards, Davis said, "If I
hadn't knocked the whole kiver off that ere pen I
do believe that blamed wolf would have killed its
fool self." We naturally wonder if the man would
not have done so too.

PIONEER DAYS 67

PIONEER HASH.

I do not know just what hash is made of and I
am frank to say that I do not believe any one else
does. I only know that it is made up of a little of
everything. As you read on you shall see why this
article is thus named.

In pioneer days it was a common custom to play
pranks on each other that would be taken pretty
seriously now, but were accepted with good grace
then. In what is now Monroe County a religious
meeting was being held at one of the neighbor's
homes, a small cabin with only one window. While
they were all down on their knees devoutly in
prayer, a boy named Lemen threw a calf in at the
window. In doing this he managed to extinguish
the only candle that was burning. The calf began
to bawl and the people were scared almost out of
their wits. The women were screaming and thru-
out the whole situation pandemonium reigned.
They thought the "Evil Spirit" was in their midst.
Finally the caudle was lighted and there it was —
only a calf. (It ought to be added here that Lemen
was of a large and respected family in that county
and in later years he became a power for good in
the community.)

In those days, it was great amusement to scare
people and they resorted to many plans to do so.
People were superstitious and mortally afraid of

68 PIONEER DAYS

ghosts. In one instance a man had a blaze-faced
horse named Baldy, but it died. Some boys got
into his chicken-roost one night to decoy him from
the house. He thought it was an owl and here he
came in his night clothes ! One of the boys got be-
tween him and the house and had on what was
known as a horse-head, made of a sheet. The man
thought it was Baldy 's spirit and began to beg,
"Oh, Baldy, you know I was good to you. What
do you want ? Go away and leave me, Baldy, ' ' etc.
The boy, seeing he took matters so seriously got to
one side to allow him to run to the house, but the
man thought no more of this earthly home and
would not run. He finally fainted and the boys had
to make themselves known. The boy wearing the
horse-head was my father.

Things that seem remarkable, we are often prone
to doubt. It scarcely seems credible that far less
than a hundred years ago, that the whole State
was overrun with wild animals that preyed upon
the crops, the poultry, the hogs, the sheep and the
cattle of the pioneers. Even the people were not
always safe. The wolves would sometimes attack
a herd of sheep and kill several at a time. Deer
would go in droves and jump into a field of corn
at night and destroy a large part of it. Opossums,
raccoons and owls were enemies of the chickens, as
well as were also the hawk and the eagle. I wish
I could tell you the story with the same flash of
the eye that my mother used to tell how the panther

PIONEER DAYS 69

was decoyed from his den. Panthers are afraid of
men and will run from their voices, but they are
attracted by the voice of a girl or a woman.
Whether it be true that "Music hath charms to
soothe the savage breast," I do not know, but I do
know that often my mother when a little girl, would
ride thru the forests behind her father and sing
in order that he might get a shot at the panther
as it stealthily approached them. Such things as
this were not considered unusual occurrences.

I remember hearing my father tell that when he
was a little boy down in Union County there were
lots of Indians and that the two races got along well
together. They loaned and gave to each other and
were always ready to help. My grandmother gave
milk to them, but one day an unusual thing hap-
pened. The little Indian girl fell down and spilt
the milk. She then returned for more milk, but be-
cause it was all gone she had to return with her
bucket empty. The Indian father was enraged at
this apparent stinginess and demanded that they
milk the cow. Finally, being convinced that the
milk was not to be gotten,, he wished to express his
apology in a substantial way and brought over a
fresh saddle of venison. The Indians were always
ready to meet you more than half way either in
peace or war. It has been said that they never for-
got an enemy, but it might be said with equal
priety that they never forgot a friend.

70 PIONEER DAYS

SONG OF THE PIONEERS.

A song for the early times out west,

And our green old forest home,
Whose pleasant memories freshly yet

Across the bosom come.
A song for the free and gladsome life,

In those early days we led,
With a teeming soil beneath our feet,

And a smiling Heaven overhead!
Oh, the waves of life danced merrily,

And had a joyous flow,
In the days when we were Pioneers.

Some fifty years ago.

The hunt, the shot, the glorious chase,

The captured elk or deer;
The camp, the big bright fire, and then

The rich and wholesome cheer;
The sweet sound sleep at dead of night,

By our camp-fire biasing high —
Unbroken by the wolfs long howl,

And the panther springing by.
Oh, merrily passed the time despite

Our wily Indian foe,
In the days when we were Pioneers,

Some fifty years ago.

We felt that toe were fellow-men;

We felt we were a band,
Sustained here in the wilderness

By Heaven's upholding hand,
And when the solemn Sabbath came,

We gathered in the wood,
And lifted up our hearts in prayer

PIONEER DAYS 71

To God the only good.
Our temples then were earth and sky —

None other did we know,
In the days when we were Pioneers

Some fifty years ago.

Our forest life was rough and rude,

And dangers closed us round;
But here amid the green old trees,

Freedom was sought and found.
Oft thru our dwellings wintry blasts

Would rush with shriek and moan;
We cared not, tho they were out frail,

We felt they were our own.
Oh, free and manly lives we led,

'Mid verdure or 'mid snow,
In the days when we were Pioneers,

Some fifty years ago.

But now our course of life is short,

And as, fro<m day to day,
We're walking on with halting step,

And fainting by the way,
Another land more bright than this,

To our dim sight appears,
And on our way to it we'll soon

Again be Pioneers;
Yet, while we linger, we may all

A backward glance still throw,
To the days when we were Pioneers,

Some fifty years ago.

BY WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER,

Published in an Atlas of Jackson County, 111., in 1878.

72 PIONEER DAYS

A PIONEER VOCABULARY.

Some of these words were introduced from the
old home and were never in common use, but they
were used by the pioneers in some localities. Others
were improper forms or pronunciations of other
words but were common enough to justify inserting
them here. Still others were new words which
originated out of the necessities of pioneer life and
went out of use with the introduction of new sur-
roundings. No attempt is made to make a complete
list of words peculiar to pioneer life, but to give
only a few words and phrases which they used and
which have now practically gone out of use.

Ash-hopper, a sort of hopper made by setting
clap-boards about three feet long into a trough
three or four feet long, leaving the upper end of
the boards to extend about thirty degrees from a
perpendicular so as to make the two sides meet in
the trough, forming an angle of about sixty de-
grees. The ends were built in with other boards.
The hopper was then filled with wood ashes and
kept dry until they wanted to use it. The pioneer
woman poured water over it to make lye, which was
used to make soap.

Back-log1, a cut of a log a foot or more in diam-
eter to put in the back of a fire-place in making a
fire.

PIONEER DAYS 73

Boot-jack, a piece of plank eighteen inches or
two feet in length with an opening in one end
which would just fit the boot heel. It was used to
pull the boots off.

Brace of ducks, two dead ducks tied together to
make them more easily carried.

Buck-skin Breeches, trousers made of the hide of
a buck, worn with the hairy side in during cold
weather and the other way during summer.

Bullet-mould, a small iron instrument used by
the pioneers to mould bullets for their rifles.

Cabin, a small log-house made by building the
logs together like a pen and covered with clap-
boards.

Candle-moulds, moulds made of tin into which
tallow was poured to make candles.

Candle-snips, an instrument something like scis-
sors to trim the charred ends of the wick in a
candle.

Clap-board, broad, thin pieces of timber made by
cutting a log into cuts from two to five feet long
and then splitting them. The blocks were split into
eighths and then the points were split off and dis-
carded. This was called bolting and the parts were
called bolts. The bolts were then rived or split
into boards with a frow. It was quite an art to
make good boards.

Cards, a pair of wire brushes about six by nine
inches, used in working wool into strings. This
was called carding.

74 PIONEER DAYS

Chinking1, blocks or slivers of wood used to fill
the cracks in the walls of a cabin.

Civilized meat, an expression used to distinguish
pork and beef from venison or the meat of other
wild animals.

Cradle, an instrument made for cutting wheat.
It had a snead or handle about four feet long, prop-
erly curved, a blade and four fingers, each about
three feet long, set at right angles to the handle
with the fingers in such a position as to catch the
grain as it fell from the blade. A strong man could
cut and swath about three acres in a day.

Crane, a hook put in the fire-place to hang pots
and kettles over the fire. They sometimes hung
meat on it to roast it.

Critter. Pioneers often referred to their horses
as critters. The word is a corruption of the word,
creatures.

Dinner-horn, a horn used to call the farmers from
the field.

Dog-iron, another name for andiron or firedog.
They were used to keep the wood from falling out
of the fire-place.

Drap, an incorrect pronunciation of drop, e.g., I
just drapped in to see you a minute, or, The chil-
dren drap the corn.

Drinking-gourd, a gourd with a portion grown
out like a dipper handle and with one side of it cut
away so as to make it like a dipper. One was usu-

PIONEER DAYS 75

ally kept at the well. They held from one to three
pints and would last a long time.

Fence-worm, the first rail of each panel of a rail
fence. They were built zig-zag to enable them to
cross the rails at the ends. It was not an easy job
to lay a fence-worm.

Fifth Quarter, the hide and tallow of a beef. It
was sometimes given to an expert rifleman at a
shooting match in order to appease him for being
ruled out of the game.

Fire-place, a large opening in a chimney where a
fire may be built.

Flint-lock, a gun arranged so that a piece of steel
would strike fire from a piece of flint and thus ig-
nite the powder.

Frow (fro), an instrument with a blade about
sixteen inches long and having a handle about the
same length, set at right angles. It was used in
riving clap-boards.

Gee, a word to a horse telling him to turn to the
right. The opposite is haw.

Galluses, suspenders.

Grease-lamp, in use more than two thousand
years ago. It consisted of a dish of some kind con-
taining grease and a cotton string for a wick. Fire
was applied to the end of the wick hanging over
the side of the vessel. By capillary attraction, the
grease was drawn up and burned, making a fairly
good light.

76 PIONEER DAYS

Glitter (grater), a common article made by
punching holes in a piece of tin and attaching it to
a board, making a segment of a cylinder with the
rough side of the tin outside. It was used for
grating corn.

Hand-spike, a lever five or six feet long with
both ends smooth, used to carry logs, a man lifting
at each end of the hand-spike, with the log in the
middle. At log-rollings, two or three were used
under the same log. It was a great feat to pull
everybody else down with a hand-spike.

Horse-power, now a unit by which power is meas-
ured. Then it meant a machine to which horses
were hitched so as to go around in a circle and
furnish power for grist mills, saw mills, etc.

Indian-summer, a period of mild weather in the
late autumn or the early winter, usually character-
ized by a cloudless sky and a hazy, smoky-like
horizon. It is of uncertain origin, but tradition
says it is the time that Indians burned the leaves
and gathered nuts.

Johnny-board, a smooth board to put dough on
before the fire to bake bread. It was probably a
corruption of Journey-board, a name given to it
because they used it when they were moving.

Johnny-cake, a cake of bread made on the john-
ny-board.

Latch-string, a string which extended from the
door-latch upward and out thru a hole in such a

PIONEER DAYS 77

manner as to permit the latch to be lifted with it
while it hung out. If the latch-string hung out,
visitors were welcome to enter, hence the expres-
sion, "the latch-string hangs out," when we mean
to say you are welcome.

Lead, the horse on the left in a two-horse team.
It is sometimes called the "near" horse. The other
is the "off" horse.

Line a hymn. Song books were scarce, so the
preacher would read a line of a song, then they
would sing it, then he would read another and so
on thru the song. This was called "lining a hymn."

Loom, a large machine, usually home made, used
for weaving cloth, carpets, etc.

Linsey-woolsey, a kind of woolen dress, all home
made.

Lizard, a piece of timber cut out of the fork of a
tree and made into a sort of a sled, used in drag-
ging logs.

Log-rolling. In the winter the farmers would
clear the ground, i.e., they cut the timber off and in
the spring the neighbors met and rolled and piled
the logs to burn. This meeting was called a log-
rolling.

Mast, the crop of acorns, nuts, etc., that fell from
the forest trees in the autumn. Hogs were allowed
to run at large and were fattened on it.

78 PIONEER DAYS

Mourner 's-bench, the front seat of a church
where those who were sorry for their sins were
urged to come to be prayed for.

Muster-day, a day set apart for all the men to
gather together and practice military drill. (See
"Waller's History of Illinois.)

Pillion, a sort of saddle or cushion for a lady, to
be put on a horse behind a man's saddle. It was
the custom for a young man to take his best girl
on the horse behind him.

Plew, a whole hide of an animal.

Plow-line, a rope used in directing the horse it.
plowing.

Pounder, a weight used in pounding grain. They
varied in weight from one pound to several pounds.
Sometimes it was a large round pebble but usually
it was made of wood.

Puncheon, a piece of log six or eight feet long,
split open, the round side notched and the other
smoothed, used in making floors, etc.

Powder horn, a cow's horn in which powder was
carried on a hunt.

Quill-pen, a writing pen made of goose quills. It
was a great point in favor of a teacher to be able
to make a good pen.

Reel, an instrument used in getting yarn ready
to knit.

Saddle of venison, two hams of venison not cut
apart.

PIONEER DAYS 79

Salt gourd, a gourd in which salt was kept. It
usually had an opening in the upper part of one
side and was hung up by the stem.

Shaving-horse, a bench with a vise arranged to
operate by the feet. It was used to hold a piece of
timber while it was being shaved or whittled down
with a drawing-knife.

Shine a coon. This meant to get into such a po-
sition that a raccoon which the dogs had "treed"
(found in a tree) would be exactly between the
hunter and the moon. A good marksman could
shoot toward the moon and get the raccoon.

Shine a deer. This meant to build a fire in the
woods at night and wait for a deer to come up so
that the light shining in the eyes of a deer could
be seen. The deer was shy and stayed a long dis-
tance away, but a good marksman could get them.

Sley, an instrument for the warp to go thru in a
loom.

Shot-pouch, a leather pouch swung around the
shoulders, used in carrying shot while out hunting.

Spinning wheel, a wheel driving a spindle which
the women used in spinning yarn after it was
"carded," i.e., made into loose strands with the
cards.

Trencher, a wooden dish, something very com-
mon.

Trundle-bed, a low bed on wheels. It was run

80 PIONEER DAYS

under another bed in the day time and brought
out at night. It was for the children.

Turn of milling. After mills were established,
pioneers took wheat and corn to the mill to be
ground for "bread-stuff". It probably was three
bushels of wheat and three bushels of corn, but no
definite authority can be found as to that. Some
say it meant just half that much.

Venison, deer made into meat.

Warping bars, a frame having a large number of
spools, used to get the "warp" or threads of even
length before they were woven into a carpet or
piece of cloth.

Well-sweep, a pole with a heavy end hung across
the top of an upright fork in such a position that
the weight of the heavy end would lift a bucket of
water out of a well with the light end.

Whip-saw, a saw used by the pioneers in sawing
lumber. The log was placed on a frame so that
one man could get under and pull the saw straight
down. Another man would then pull it up. Thus
the process was continued something after the man-
ner of using a cross-cut saw.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA

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